


Please Don't Fake It

by thetatertotkid



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Melinda May - Freeform, Mentions of Phil Coulson - Freeform, mentions of Leo Fitz - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 10:23:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20445581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetatertotkid/pseuds/thetatertotkid
Summary: Change can be rough. A self-inflicted need for answers causes tensions to rise and risky decisions to be made.





	Please Don't Fake It

**Author's Note:**

> The title is based off a song by the Tech Thieves called "Fake." This might become the prelude to a series, but who knows? I hope you guys enjoy!

Please Don’t Fake It  
Skye walked down the stairs to Vault D, looking at him with disgust. He sat on his bed, staring at his self-inflicted scars. She was mad, furious, at Ward. She felt used, felt betrayed, and after Fitz tried to have his secret excursion down here, she decided she might have one herself, despite how Coulson and May would react. 

She knew her new S.O. would tell her to keep a level head, but after discovering her father was a cruel man, a murderer, a monster, she wanted answers. She needed answers, and she knew the one way she would get them would be from Ward, the man she once loved, the man that she still loves despite how much she tries to hate him.

She stood in front of Ward, getting a glance from him as he still sat on his bed, tracing the scars on his arm.

“You used me. You used my feelings…” Ward listened to her as she ranted, as she screamed at him, taking each word like a punch in the stomach. He deserved it, he knew that deep down, his decisions were flawed and wicked, and all I wanted was to make the guilt go away. 

He put his hands to his sides, not wanting to bring attention to his scars, his attempts at punishing himself, ending this miserable life that his choices had created. He watched as Skye shook, anger and desperation wracking her entire body. Words became incoherent sobs as her body dropped into the lone silver chair in the vault. The tablet controlling his containment dropped to the ground, not breaking but making him crave to hold her even more. 

Show me what you’re all about  
“Skye..” Ward opened his mouth to speak, but only silence and ragged breaths came out. He realized that even though Skye was interrogating him for Coulson, for S.H.I.E.L.D., no one was going to come down and console her. Despite his status as a prisoner, it seemed as though it would be his job to help her calm down, to straighten her out. 

Skye lifted her legs up and grabbed them with her arms, bringing herself into a huddled ball on the chair. She was aware that this breakdown would be recorded, that she would get reprimanded. She knew that eyes were on her, that Coulson would go and look at this recording and make her come down here again and again until they exhausted Ward of all his information. She couldn’t bring herself to care anymore, she had exhausted herself trying to hide all of her emotions.

Her eyes glanced at him, and when he made eye contact, she looked back down at the floor. This man was HYDRA, a traitor, and a monster. Even though he was a monster, she still loved him, she still cared. She tried to hate him, tried to loathe him down to her very core, but she couldn’t, no matter how much she tried. 

More tears coated her face as she buried her head into her curled up form. Her bangs began to soak due to the salty tears spreading all across her face. 

“Skye, I never meant to hurt you. My feelings were genuine, they are genuine. I could never hurt you, never. You’re my weakness, the one who made me believe that there was hope that I could change.” Ward stood up from his bed and walked over to her, to be closer to her, despite how much it pained both of them

He walked until he hit his cell’s border. He was desperate to console her, to make her smile, even though he knew he’d never see that smile again. “Hate me, I deserve it. I know I don’t deserve trust, a second chance, love, but you’ve given that to me.” 

“You’re HYDRA! You think I love you? I hate you down to your core!” Skye screamed with emotion backing her words. The emotions she tried to get rid of, tried to keep in check, surfaced all at once, suffocating her. “Your organization was founded by Nazis! You’re loyal to that foundation-”

“No I’m not!” Ward yelled. He looked down at his hands, at his scars, at his failed attempts to end the life of this horrid human being he’d become. He mumbled something almost inaudibly when Skye picked up on it. 

“Speak louder.” She softly demanded. Her voice sounded broken, resembling the fractured state she had put herself into. 

Ward looked up at her, desperate to meet her eyes, make her understand. “I was only loyal to Garrett-’

“You were loyal to a man who abused you? The man who turned you into a cold-blooded monster? You tried to kill Fitz and-” 

“Skye, stop. Please.” His voice had gone soft, vocalizing the sadness and pain that he had put himself through. “I tried to save their lives as much as possible. Ejecting them from the plane, it was the only thing I could do. Garrett wanted me to put bullets through their heads, right through their brains. I couldn’t- I couldn’t do that. Not to them, not to you.” 

“You still ejected them from a plane. Into the ocean. Fitz is mentally and physically damaged, and Simmons is still trying to reconcile with the fact that he saved her instead of letting her take the brunt of it. You claim to care, but you’ve harmed all of us in some-” 

“I know Skye, I know. And I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” 

“Sorry won’t cut it.” SKye looked up and glared at him with increasing anger and resentment. 

I got wasted, learning how to let it out 

“Skye, you know my past. You know how I struggle with letting my emotions out. I think tactical, not emotional. You may call me a monster, but-”

Skye slowly stood up as Ward’s words came to a halt. “I don’t just call you a monster. You are a monster. You helped break apart S.H.I.E.L.D. and helped HYDRA rise again. Why? Because Garrett told you to?”

Ward pressed his hand against the barrier, receiving glowing orange in response. Skye focused her eyes on that very movement, noting that Ward could be using this as an opportunity to learn how to escape. 

“Skye, you have to understand. Garrett shaped me to be the person I am today. I wasn’t brainwashed, I was influenced. Every decision I’ve made-” 

“-Was of your own free will, yeah, I know.” Skye interrupted. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh in a desperate attempt to calm herself down. “You’ve said this a million times Grant. You’ve said this so many times that I’m starting to wonder-”

“If I’ll ever change? If I was programmed to say it? I can change, I want to change. I know I wasn’t programmed to say it, I promised to tell you the truth, and here I am, telling you the truth. You know deep down that I can change Skye. I need help to change, I need you to change. I’m not trying to influence you to join HYDRA, I’m trying to get you to understand me and what I’m saying.”

I can’t take it, kiss me with the lips of doubt

“Ward, I don’t think I’ll ever understand you. I don’t want to understand you, you’ve done too much-”

“Skye.. “ Ward paused, glancing at Skye leaning on the chair, but only her blank expression stared back at him. Her dried tears were visible on her face, and only her eyes represented her emotions that she’s been keeping bottled up. 

Skye’s eyes glanced down at the floor, unable to meet his gaze for much longer without bringing the barrier down. She wanted to be wrapped in his embrace; she longed to understand his side of the story, to have some comfort. She wanted things to go back to the way they were on the BUS.

“Skye, please look at me.” She tilted her head up to meet his eyes, and with the closer proximity, she could see his chocolatey brown eyes melting down all her defenses. Once again, she found herself intoxicated by his influence, not wanting to look away despite every notion telling her to do so. 

“I’m loyal to you, and I couldn’t fake that. I could never fake that. I want to help you, I really do. Coulson-he’s messing with your mind. He’s turning you into a killer, just as Garrett did to m. God, if I had to witness you killing in cold blood like I did, I don’t know what I’d do to myself-” Ward paused, running his hand through his hair. His wrist was bared, out in the open, displaying the cuts that Skye had once ridiculed him for. 

Waiting for her interjection to defend Coulson, he continued “I know he’s like a father figure to you, but he’s hiding your past from you. He’s blinding you to your true reality, your true potential.Skye if you could just let me out of here-” 

“Ward, you know I can’t do that. No matter how much I want to, I can’t. I have nothing without SHIELD. This is my home now, and-”

“That's what they want you to think Skye. You don’t realize it, but they’re brainwashing you, making you believe their side of the story. You said when you first came onto the BUS that you wanted to know the raw, unedited truth. I’m giving you the opportunity to do so. To prevent yourself from being blindfolded by the SHIELD agenda. To be the rising tide against organizations like SHIELD who withhold information.” Ward slowly breathed in, glancing at Skye and seeing something in her eyes shift. 

Please don’t fake it

“SHIELD withholds information for a reason-”  
“And look at what happened. HYDRA came in and wiped SHIELD out, Skye. Don’t you see that while HYDRA was the bad guy, SHIELD isn’t doing much better? Coulson, he’s a liar, he’s stuck in the old ways. You and me, we can reform HYDRA and SHIELD, and burn out the flaws to make one perfect organization.” 

Skye picked up the tablet as she rose to her feet. She knew he was probably playing her, that she should know better, but the part of her still residing in her days with the Rising Tide struck a chord within her. She wanted the truth, the full truth, but she didn’t want to betray SHIELD. 

Skye pulled out her phone, and sent a quick text message to Fitz: 

Be alert. Going undercover, hopefully to infiltrate HYDRA. If I call, we speak in code only, I will specify later. Tell Coulson I had a lead.

Skye put her phone away and looked at Ward’s questioning gaze with a smirk gracing her face. He stood up and backed away,panic lacing his voice. 

“Skye, I don’t want-” 

“I wiped it, relax. I’m not calling anyone, it's so we won’t be tracked.” She changed Fitz’s name to Darius Leonard Klip in her phone to not arouse suspicion. 

“You’re actually going to let me out?” Ward took a step closer to the barrier between them, and Skye pocketed her phone and picked up the tablet. 

“Maybe you could beg a little to be released?” Skye gave him a faux look of innocence, something he saw right through. 

“Skye, as much as I would love to play your little game, we don’t have much time. Where are the others?”

“Out on a mission, I had to stay behind and gather intel from you.” She knew that only a few agents had remained behind, so they should have no trouble escaping. 

“Well, I hope you don’t have to-”

“We’re stopping by my bunk and getting my stuff and then heading out. And you could at least say please..” 

“Please Skye, please let me out of here.” His voice brimmed with annoyance, giving her the satisfaction she was looking for. She dropped the barrier with one simple tap, and he hesitantly walked towards her. 

When Ward saw she wasn’t going to run from him, he stepped closer to her, grabbing her hand before he cupped her face. 

“Skye…” His breath was hot on her lips as he pulled her closer to him. 

Skye leaned in and kissed him gently, shocking him before he started to kiss back. He pulled away, alert yet dazed in the feelings that she awakened within him once again. 

“If you want to make it out of here alive Ward, we’d better hurry.” she placed the tablet on the chair and ran up the stairs, Ward close behind. The duo started to walk out of Vault D, the door clicking shut behind them. 

Their journey had only just begun.


End file.
